The Kunta are an African Arabized tribal group of Saharan Nomads, today residing mostly in Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Southern Algeriae.
Believed to be descended from Arab nomads and warriors who brought Islam to North Africa in the eighth century (CE). Specifically, they trace their lineage from Uqba ibn Nafi, a Muslim leader of the conquest period its a legende.
Established in Mauritania since the eleventh century, the Kounta were instrumental in the expansion of Islam into sub-Saharan West Africa in the 15th century, and formed an urban elite in cities such as Timbuctu which were on the southern end of the Trans-Saharan trade.
While the nomadic Kunta clans were "pacified" early by French Colonial forces,the urban Kounta trading and religious groups to the east were instrumental in the Fulani Jihad States of the Sokoto Caliphate, Macina, and the Segou Tijaniyya Jihad state of Umar Tall.
Some leaders of the Kunta in north east Mali have come into conflict with Tuareg and Bambara populations in towns where they once held a near monopoly on political power. In 1998–1999 and again in 2004 there were brief flare-ups of intercommunal violence between these groups near Gao and Timbuctu, a rare event in postcolonial Mali. There has even been a small ethnic Kounta insurgency, begun in 2004 by a former army colonel, though few attacks have been staged and the leadership has been largely rejected by the Kunta community.
Så nära ligger sömnen
under alla täcken sval
svept och gömd i filtar
plast, nylon, cellofan
Min mun vid termometern
fuskar Mig febersvag
& det känns som om
Jag glömt någonting kvar?
Jag tappar mina kläder
Jag tappar värmen
grad för grad
Nu skakar Mina händer
värre varje dag
som cesium & syre
brinner Jag alldeles klart
& det känns som om
Jag glömt någonting kvar?
Refr:
Hon är vaken
Jag vet att hon är vaken
Jag är vaken
Hon vet att Jag är vaken
Vi är vakna
Visst syns det att Vi
vaknat nyss
och väntar?
Så nära känner lukten
nu kan Jag slappna av
& utanför på trappan
får frosten Dig att tappa tag
Det har hunnit bli oktober
nu fryser gräset & går av
& Jag hatar allt
som böjs & går av
Refr.
Tänk om Jag har fel